


one crimson petal, one young leaf

by cambstopped



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Demon Summoning, Demons, Gen, curiosity killed the cat is smt wooyoung doesnt know abt in here, demon! san, its on the 70's so lets pretend ok, other members are mentioned ok, the relationship is honestly up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25598407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cambstopped/pseuds/cambstopped
Summary: Seonghwa once said Wooyoung was too curious for his own good. It made him a great journalist, but, as the older said, it also could bring him problems.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	one crimson petal, one young leaf

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, this was written for the [#atz_drawastory](https://twitter.com/hashtag/atz_drawastory?src=hashtag_click) campaign on twitter, and I was paired with the lovely [@iwabi_isabi](https://twitter.com/iwabi_isabi) !
> 
> English is not my first language. I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> (and, yes, the title is a lyric from [ vixx's scentist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MctZLEYlU4s) ok thanks)

As if the sky knew what he was about to do and didn’t agree with it, the rain poured down the whole night. The loud thunderstorms and the lightning that often cut the sky made Wooyoung’s curtains useless.

He was, however, not bothered by the shadows that appeared in the walls every time the flash of light hit the ground. The shadows from the flickering flames of the candles were funnier to look at. Well, at least something to distract himself while he moved around lighting candles due the blackout the storm caused. If Hongjoong and Yeosang were home instead of working overtime in the night shift, they would be having a game night.

Hongjoong would also have yelled at Wooyoung for the dangerous number of candles in only one room, but that was a detail.

Sitting in the living room, his back against the couch, Wooyoung took a deep breath and glanced at the five candles in front of him. Each one placed at one point in the drawing he made on the floor before the electricity went out. Next to him, the books he and Mingi found out at the newspaper archive where they worked.

Seonghwa once said Wooyoung was too curious for his own good. It made him a great journalist, but, as the older said, it also could bring him problems. Not that he cared much about the last part, and the way he was re-reading all the three books of demonic evocation showed that.

Personally, Wooyoung didn’t exactly believe in anything. But he was curious. He liked the possibilities the paranormal had and the encounters he heard people talk about. The weird and lacking explanations of the stories and occasional reports he found at his work. So, finding out more than one book at the archive kicked the curious part of his brain. He wasn’t sure yet if he believed in such things, but the chance to prove was in front of him, so why not try it? If some boards and mediums supposedly could contact the dead, maybe he has a chance too.

If anything, he could hide at Seonghwa’s place until Hongjoong calmed down for the drawing on his floor and the attempt of setting the house on fire.

The first book was in front of him, the pages filled with drawings and a small incantation painted in black. According to the wall clock, it was 2:57 AM. He once saw that the best time to contact the spirits was at night, especially after 3 AM, so starting three minutes sooner wouldn’t affect the result.

Wooyoung took a deep breath as he adjusted his glasses, the first book in his hands. His voice steady and echoing on the empty house as he recited the words of evocation. One of the candles almost went out, and it made him stop to look at it. But nothing happened.

He looked around the room to see if there was something that wasn’t there before, but all he could see was the usual furniture and nothing more.

“Ok” Wooyoung took another deep breath. The book now on the floor next to him as he held the second one. It didn’t look much different from the first one, some words were even repeated. “This is stupid”.

He rested his head on the couch, staring at the black ceiling. It was stupid, but since when stupidy stopped him?

Wooyoung repeated the steps of the charm, making sure to say it louder this time. He tried it three times, trying to read the spell from top to bottom and vice-versa. And, again, nothing happened. Not even the flickering flame he saw before happened again. He held the third and last book he brought home, discerning his eyes in each word to avoid saying the Latin — or whatever language that was — wrong.

“Are you going for a best of three?”

If someone asked Wooyoung what happened, he wouldn’t say he yelled with a sudden voice. But that was exactly what he did. Standing up in a jump, he looked around searching for the owner of the voice, meeting only the dark.

“Who’s there?” he could hear his voice trembling. And a small chuckle from behind him.

“This isn't welcoming as it could be, Wooyoung”

Wooyoung searched again for the owner of the voice. A chill down his spine made his legs cold, and there was the uncomfortable sensation of holding his breath, even if he wasn’t.

“Here, buddy”

Wooyoung looked at the circle again, watching as the candles lighted a man sitting by the couch where he was leaning seconds ago. A thunder made him flinch, and the extra light of the lightning illuminated the silhouette of the person, letting him see the sharp nose and… glowing eyes?

“Who are you?”

“Hm” the man looked at him, crossing his legs and resting the back on the couch. There was an eerie smile on his face that Wooyoung found quite charming. “I have a lot of names, but you can call me San”.

“How do you know my name?”

“I just do… Are you going to stay up? You have another couch” the visitor pointed to the couch in front of him, now resting against the wall so Wooyoung could have enough space to draw the circle. “Or you like this one? In this case, I can sit there”.

The stranger — San, as he said — disappeared from Wooyoung’s sight and showed up again at the couch he pointed before. Wooyoung was about to scream and nothing would stop him from doing it. The smile on the other’s face went to eerie from amused, enjoying the clear confusion and fear in his conjurer’s eyes.

Moving more in automatic mode than a thinking one, Wooyoung tried to breathe as he sat back on the floor, doing his best to not blink or lose sight of San. He stared at the face that caught his attention like the sharp of his jawline, skin looking so soft to touch as the eyes looked magical. They were hazel — like normal eyes — but it seemed that light came from inside San’s body, making the orbits shine in some color that resembled white. Another thunder came, and the lighting that followed illuminated the room again, displaying San’s shadow in the wall behind him. And Wooyoung could swear he saw horns in the shadows, but there was nothing physically in there.

“So, you called me for a staring competition?” San’s voice called Wooyoung’s attention back, making the boy stop trying to see if his ears were pointy as he saw.

“I… what…?” Wooyoung stared at the circle before San could do it and something inside his mind startled him up. “Wait, it worked?”

“Yes”.

“It really worked?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Wooyoung stopped and stared at San again, to make sure that the other was, in fact, there. San gave an offended eye-rolling as a response, crossing his arms before gazing at the boy.

“I am here, you idiot. Do you think I just randomly show up at people’s houses late at night? I have better things to do”.

“Like what?”

San raised his eyebrow and considered for half a second to answer Wooyoung’s question, but changed his mind and ended up just moving his hand to dismiss it, the candle’s light reflecting at his multiple rings.

“Wait, when did it work?” Wooyoung reached for the second book and searched for the spell again. “The book is right?”

“It worked at your first try. But I wanted to see how far you were willing to go for it”

“And you gave up at my second try?” Wooyoung didn’t exactly mean to sound so arrogant, but the haughty way his eyebrow was lifted made San huff. “But shouldn’t something happen when you appear?”

“Like what, human?” the way San stared at him made Wooyoung consider, for a second, that maybe he should think about his words a little more. “You were expecting a light show? Smoke? Like this?”

Wooyoung looked at his floor at the same time a white smoke appeared, moving in a serpentine way to surround the white paint he used to make the circle. It slowly grew, in a way that now San’s body was entirely covered by the fog. He saw the other’s shadow move at the same time the loudest thunder so far echoed outside, making him scream with the scare. San, otherwise, had small red flares floating around him, and the flames of the candles went out. There was a small growl coming from where San was. For a second, Wooyoung reflected the distance between him, San, and the front door.

The lights of the living room flashed, another thunder echoed and, finally, the fog started to go back to the floor. San looked the same, except for the taste of danger he pulsed that made a chill run down Wooyoung’s spine. The demon came closer, step by step, and leaned down until his face was in front of Wooyoung’s, centimeters or fewer away from him.

“I like when you get scared” it was nothing more than a whisper, but Wooyoung wasn’t so sure that the chill he felt now was only fear. “Was that good enough for you, Woo?”

San was back at the couch, legs crossed, and such a lascivious smile on his face. Or maybe it was just a victorious one, but the word seemed to fit the situation. Wooyoung wanted water, or just to understand what just happened, but maybe the water was easier to get.

“Also, you didn’t need to be so formal for this meeting, you know?” San pointed to the bow tie that was still on Wooyoung’s neck after the whole day, softly laughing with how the other quickly looked down.

“I… It’s my working clothes. Did you just call me Woo?”

“Didn’t like the nickname or we can’t be more intimate yet?”

Wooyoung stopped himself and took a deep breath, adjusting his glasses before staring at San. He couldn’t let the other get into his skin so easily like that. 

“What exactly do you mean by intimate?”

“Using nicknames sounds something more intimate for people that met a few seconds ago, don’t you think?” a smirk painted San’s face again, sprawling himself on the couch to be more comfortable. “Why? Were you thinking about other intimate things?”

“Don’t demons do pacts or something like that?”

The glow of San’s eyes seemed to be brighter, and he changed his position to lean towards Wooyoung.

“Do you want a pact?”

“I… was just asking, actually”.

“You’re a curious thing, human” San laughed. “Do you have something that you want? Something that you need? Maybe just something that you’re just eager to have”.

Wooyoung pondered for a moment. Sharing a house with Yeosang and Hongjoong gave him deep conversations late at night before, usually with alcohol and food involved. So once, after Yeosang had an awful day at work and he and Hongjoong made him dinner, they spent hours talking about plans. Studying more, traveling around the world, and even changing professions. 

Realistic thinking, whatever they talked about, needed money to happen. Their economic situation was something good, but nothing more than that. Their house was big and comfortable, and the expenses shared between them. They had food, good clothes and some luxury items like a TV, and a record player. They worked hard every day for that, him being home alone at that moment was proof of that.

“You and your friends could have your own editorial office. Work less” 

Wooyoung didn’t notice the moment where San started to walk around, but he saw the demon stopped not far from him, staring at one photo hanging at the wall. It was a photo from his first year at the newspaper, with his team of eight people smiling to the camera their boss brought. Yunho was the one that placed the photo in there when he came to the house, saying that the safer place for the little “happy memory” to be was at Hongjoong’s place.

“Or maybe you want something else. Happiness… Love…”

San sat in front of Wooyoung in a lotus position, staring at the other with such depth that it was almost uncomfortable.

“Do you have someone, Wooyoung? Someone to love?”

Well, he had his friends. But the way San’s eyes glowed told him that he was referring to another type of love.

“You do love pacts? How does that even work?”

“A pact works solely with the exchange. We have more power than humans, so we can do whatever we want to get things done. And, not to be rude, but you humans are… Pretty basic. Easy” San leaned back, his hands resting at the wood floor as he kept looking at Wooyoung. “You are a little funnier, at least. Interesting”.

Wooyoung almost rolled his eyes, but his attention got caught by the place where San’s hand was. It was exactly above one the lines from the invocation circle, that with the contact appeared to be a little wiped off.

“Hey, don’t you need the circle to go back?”

You see, considering the difference of seconds between a thunder strong enough to make the floor tremble, and the laugh San gave, there wasn’t a good way to point out what made Wooyoung feel the sudden dread. But It was there, and it was cold. The corner of San’s mouth lifted in a smile that was threatening as the invisible hand that held the back of Wooyoung’s neck.

“Oh, Wooyoung. Who said I’m leaving?”.


End file.
